Yes, she was willing to go off and let them drive her home; but, first of all, she must embrace Legras, who was an old friend of hers.

"Go and wait for me in the carriage!" she said, "I will be with you in a moment." Just as the assembly was at last becoming calmer, Rosemonde perceived that the box was emptying; and her own curiosity being satisfied, she thought of prevailing on Hyacinthe to see her home.

He, who had listened to Legras in a languid way without even applauding, was now talking of Norway with Bergaz, who pretended that he had travelled in the North.

Oh! the fiords! oh! the ice-bound lakes! oh! the pure lily-white, chaste coldness of the eternal winter! It was only amid such surroundings, said Hyacinthe, that he could understand woman and love, like a kiss of the very snow itself.
"Shall we go off there to-morrow ?" exclaimed the Princess with her vivacious effrontery.

"I'll shut up my house and slip the key under the door." Then she added that she was jesting, of course.